Islamabad: During a crackdown in Athal village on the outskirts of the federal capital, the Bhara Kahu Police recovered a huge quantity of narcotics and arms & ammunition and arrested four drug barons ruling the area, police said.
The area is considered to be a safe haven for drug mafia and has become a ‘no-go area’ of the federal capital similar to Doray which falls in the jurisdiction of the Tarnol Police Station.
One of the drug barons, stated to be an official of Levy of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), has been arrested for possessing about 3 kilograms of ‘hashish’, police said.
The newly appointed station house officers (SHOs) were given one month to end street crimes and drug dealing from their respective areas, police said. They added that the Bhara Kahu Police, headed by the SHO, launched a crackdown on drug-dealing mafia active in Athal village and raided drug dens being run in different areas in and around Athal. Police during the onslaught at the drug centres recovered over 10 kilograms of ‘hashish’ and ‘garda’ from their possession, police sources said.
In the first raid, the Bhara Kahu Police intercepted a Toyota Corolla car bearing registration number KPK-5362-Peshawar and recovered 4,800 grams of ‘hashish’ and ‘garda’ concealed in secret cavities of the car along with a Kalashnikov and 52 bullets. They also arrested two men, identified as Amin Abbas, son of Ghulam Ameer, hailing from Hangu, and Syed Ibne Ali, son of Syed Hanif Hussain Shah Ibrahimzai, District Hangu, and shifted them to the police station with the car, narcotics and arms and ammunition.
During preliminary investigation, Amin Abbas told police that he was an official of Levy in KP and supplied drugs in Athal village. He told police that he had been ‘nazim’ of Hangu too.
In another raid near Satra Meel, the police team recovered ‘hashish’ from a den and arrested a drug dealer identified as Hasnain Shah, son of Talib Shah, hailing from Pind Bagayal, and recovered 2,400 grams of ‘hashish garda’ from his den.
The police team, in another raid on a drug den, arrested Shafaqat Hussain, son of Maskeen, a resident of Flat 27, Quaid-e-Azam Colony, Nurpur Shahan, and recovered 2,200 grams of ‘hashish garda’ from the den.
Police have registered cases under 9/C and 15 of Narcotics Act and started investigation.
The locals claimed that Athal is a safe haven for drug mafia and has become a ‘no-go area’. They alleged that it has become a base-camp of drug mafia where drug trade is allegedly run under the protection of police.
They claimed that many families, which didn’t want to indulge in drug dealing and had informed area police against the unlawful activities of the drug-dealers, were kicked out of the village for spying against the mafia.
The locals told ‘The News’ that numerous applications were given to police, even to the former SSP, but no action was taken against the drug mafia. The locality has become a safe haven for heroin addicts, creating problems for the passersby and locals. Police, however, have started a ruthless campaign against the drug mafia and arrested dozens of suspects from the village.
“Over 50% of the total population, including women and children, was involved in drug trade. Police have access to the dens but didn’t dare to come to the village to check the drug-dealing criminals, the locals said.
It is worth mentioning here that the drug-barons, on the midnight of September 10 and 11, killed two cops of the Islamabad Police and wounded another after keeping them in detention at a house in Doray, on the outskirts of the federal capital, located along Fatehjang Road that falls in the jurisdiction of Tarnol Police Station.
